The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
